2017年6月26日月曜日

In February of this year, it was revealed that an Osaka-based education entity called Moritomo Gakuen purchased government land at a discounted rate. This institution had plans to build a one-of-a-kind private school that educated students based on conservative, nationalist views, but its construction plans were put on hold after this controversial incident. The news that a conservative, nationalist institution may have worked closely with the government to illegally obtain cheap land unsurprisingly caused a nationwide scandal, but this was only the beginning of the story.

Yasunori Kagoike, the then Moritomo Gakuen Chairman, publically announced that the institution received a donation of 1 million yen, roughly 9,000 dollars, from Prime Minister Abe for the school’s construction. Kagoike claimed that the donation was given to him through Akie Abe, the prime minister’s wife. Less than two weeks later, Prime Minister Abe gave an official response that if he or his wife were found to be involved with this deal, he would give up his roles as prime minister and a member of the Diet.

In late March, Kagoike was summoned to the National Diet for testimony regarding this scandal, and he again claimed that he received a donation directly from Akie Abe. In addition, he testified that there were other Diet members from Osaka involved in this scandal, thus generating even more attention from the media.

In April, Kagoike stepped down as the Chairman, and those duties were passed on to his oldest daughter, Mrs. Chinami. Moritomo Gakuen adopted an altered plan for the construction of its school, and at the end of the month, the city of Osaka decided to begin paperwork to implement these plans and move forward with the construction of this school, despite not having answers to very important questions regarding this messy situation.

2017年6月19日月曜日

Summer vacation for most Japanese schools lasts between three and five weeks. When Japanese children hear about the length of summer vacation in other countries, they are often shocked at the long duration of this break. For example, most schools in the U.S. have at least two months off for summer break. Although the summer breaks in Japan may already seem short when compared to elsewhere, the government has decided to shorten it even more. Starting during the 2018-2019 school year, it has been decided by the Japanese government that public elementary, middle, and high schools will have a shortened summer break.

The specific dates and length of summer break will likely still vary according to the region, but the main idea is to shorten summer break by about five days in order to extend spring and fall breaks by a couple days to a ten-day break. The rationale behind this decision is to create a nationwide “Kid’s Week” during which working parents can also take days off from work and the whole family can go on trips together. Another belief is that having balanced breaks from school will allow students and teachers to establish more consistency at school.

Other changes to the curriculum and education system, such as the inclusion of English as a regular subject for 3rd and 4th grade elementary school students in 2020 as well as the English interview component to entrance exams in the same year, are thought to also benefit from this schedule change. In the coming months, local governments will meet to discuss these new changes and decide the specific dates of spring, summer, fall, and winter breaks according to their specific region.

2017年6月12日月曜日

In a recent JustSystems Corporation survey of over 1,600 parents with elementary school children, it was reported that just under 40% of parents knew that programming will become a required subject as of 2020. Almost half the parents responded that they send their children to programming lessons in order to increase their creative power, and about 40% of parents believe skills built during programming lessons are applicable to other subjects. Building programming skills is the first step for success within the STEM Curriculum.

Around 70% of parents see the merits of the STEM Curriculum and around the same percentage feel this type of curriculum is important, but only 11% feel that they can explain the curriculum and its goals to another person.

From the results of this survey, the administers can infer that the general awareness of the STEM Curriculum among parents has spread widely, but most of these parents do not know the specific details of the curriculum and how it will affect future generations of children. In the coming months and years, more detailed information will surely reach these parents. MEXT and other educational organizations have already decided to start promoting programming educational materials aimed at elementary school students.

2017年6月5日月曜日

The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology held a hearing on March 23rd to discuss the public comments based on previously announced plans for educational reform. Among forty groups of people and individuals, there were over 150 opinions submitted. The majority of the comments dealt with the current situation of education in Japan, the problems it faces, and general plans for future education policies. Most of the opinions geared towards the state of education mentioned the need for implementing a plan to address the serious problem of supporting children living in poverty. Although the specific details for plans to address the needs for financial support for impoverished children have yet to be announced, it is an issue that is likely to remain central to the committee’s discussions.

Earlier this month, the Wakayama Prefectural Board of Education announced that it was seeking opinions of residents regarding the treatment of impoverished children. The prefecture recently made public its new five-year plan to take action to help children living in poverty, so it would like to hear opinions and ideas from all types of people living in Wakayama. Included in the proposal are twenty indices including percentages of children’s continuation rate to college and the percentages of jobs among single-parent households. The prefectural leaders have divided the plan into four parts: Education Support, Lifestyle Support, Employment Support for Guardians, and Economical Support. They even introduced plans for supporting children in attaining meals at a reduced price.